Posters for early 1930s films such as "I Like Your Nerve," left, and "Strangers in Love" include names that have been famous for generations, such as Fredric March, Loretta Young and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

Posters for early 1930s films such as "I Like Your Nerve," left, and "Strangers in Love" include names that have been famous for generations, such as Fredric March, Loretta Young and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

Posters for early 1930s films such as "I Like Your Nerve," left, and "Strangers in Love" include names that have been famous for generations, such as Fredric March, Loretta Young and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

Posters for early 1930s films such as "I Like Your Nerve," left, and "Strangers in Love" include names that have been famous for generations, such as Fredric March, Loretta Young and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

Larry Smith views a poster for the 1931 film "Smart Woman" in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, June 27, 2014. Smith discovered a stack of vintage old, tattered and torn hand painted movie posters in the basement of his home over 40 years ago that were used as insulation on the walls in the basement. less

Larry Smith views a poster for the 1931 film "Smart Woman" in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, June 27, 2014. Smith discovered a stack of vintage old, tattered and torn hand painted movie posters in the ... more

It is everybody's summer daydream: win the lottery or close a fabulous business deal, perhaps find some treasure hidden in plain sight. Next stop, Easy Street.

Larry Smith was thinking that way when he remembered a discovery he'd made some years back behind the walls of his family home in San Francisco - a stash of old hand-painted movie posters that used to grace the entrance to some long-vanished neighborhood theater.

He'd found them when he was a kid, stashed away behind the walls in a downstairs in-law apartment. They were made of stiff cardboard and used as insulation.

"Arrowsmith," starring Ronald Colman and Helen Hayes, is among the most recognizable films. John Ford was the director. It got four Oscar nominations in 1931. The poster advertising the film is big. It is in three colors, meant to stand next to the box office. It is hand-painted, one of a kind.

It was clear these posters didn't come from grand movie palaces like San Francisco's famous Fox Theater. They were probably from neighborhood movie theaters. San Francisco had dozens and dozens of them in the days before television. The theaters usually offered six films a week. On some nights, dishes were given away. The gaudy posters were there to lure customers inside.

"When I was a kid, Mission Street was lined with movie theaters," Smith said.

Home from 1920s

He thinks the house on Foerster Street in the Sunnyside district was built in 1921. His parents bought it 30 years later, in 1951 or so.

"I figure that the guy who owned the house before my family bought it either was a theater manager or knew somebody who was," Smith said. "They just tossed those old posters, and he picked them up. They were mounted on cardboard, so they used them for insulation in the walls when they built an in-law apartment downstairs.

"Times were tough, and it was cheap."

He found the posters by accident when cleaning up downstairs. He pulled out a loose piece of insulation, and there was a poster for a stage show. Then he found more.

He took them all out and mounted them. "Everybody was impressed," he said. "The most impressed was my parents' friends. They'd talk about the old movies: 'Remember this one?' they'd say, or 'Oh, honey, remember when you took me to see this show?' "

Smith took to serving coffee and little snacks in his poster room. This was just the beginning, he thought. People would flock to see the old movie posters, and he'd cash in - kind of a Nostalgia Inc.

But the charm wore off. The old people faded away, like old pictures. Young people weren't interested.

Smith went to Lincoln High, went to work, got married, got divorced, moved away, and eventually moved back to the family home. He'd kept the posters, carefully preserved, if a bit scuffed up, here and there. He has a dozen, and he thinks there are more in the walls.

Why he's selling

He's 59 now, a big guy with gray hair. He makes his living as a carpenter and a handyman. He has a boat and likes to sail on the bay and spends his spare time at the Bay View Boat Club, a block or two from the ballpark, talking about boats, and life and old movies.

"I want to sell the posters," he said. "I don't want to keep working. I'm tired of working all the time. I want to get my name up in marquee lights.

"What are they worth? That's the rough part. I have no idea. I think they are works of art. They send chills up my spine."

The posters are artifacts, he thinks, souvenirs of another time, like the dishes they used to give out at the movies on Friday nights. If someone had saved a complete set of free dishes at the time, they'd be worth a fortune now. Or maybe not.

Larry Smith is hoping there's a market out there. If someone wants to buy, he's selling.

Old movie posters

Anyone interested in buying Larry Smith's posters can call him at (415) 269-1729.